Henry and Sophia Jankowski with the elephant fish they caught from the Barwon estuary on Sunday (Picture: Warren Jankowski).
Barwon estuary
On Sunday, Warren and Pip Jankowski, along with son Henry 8, and daughter Sophia 5, fished the Barwon estuary above the Sheepwash where Sophia hooked what was obviously a good size fish of some sort before losing it under the boat.
That was followed by a slippery eel, which the kids took turns at trying to hold before releasing it.
But it was Sophia who hooked up yet again, this time to a fair size elephant fish that brother Henry volunteered to hold for a few photos with Sophia before releasing it.
Team effort: Releasing Sophia’s elephant fish (Picture: Pip Jankowski).
Offshore
On Sunday, Murray and Darcy Scott were trolling lures around Charlemont Reef off Barwon Heads by first light and were soon rewarded with a 3 kg Australian salmon and four snook.
With these additions to their bait supply, they headed out into 30 metres of water to be greeted by pinkie snapper to 1.5 kg taking their baits. However, the gummy shark Darcy hooked on a whiting head was more of a handful and greeted the scales for a verdict of 20 kg.
Not to be outdone, Murray followed that up with what turned out to be a 40 kg seven-gilled shark that took a fillet of snook.
Darcy Scott with his 20 kg gummy shark taken offshore from Barwon Heads on Sunday morning (Picture: Murray Scott).
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Fishing some distance north of the channel junction off Curlewis on Friday evening, Jason Treloar and Harley Griffiths, initially found themselves harassed by a variety unwanted species, but they stayed on, hopeful of catching a snapper.
They caught two as it turned out on a virtual double hook-up as the tide changed to run out around 8.30 pm. Their catch also included a couple of nice flathead and a gummy shark over a metre in length, all taken on squid.
Mike Windsor of Clifton Springs Boat Hire reports that several good catches of whiting were taken inshore from the mussel farm north east of the boat ramp where Damian Aquilina and Dominic Romano picked up 20 respectable fish. They also caught 10 squid and several flathead to 49 cm.
Fishing in much the same area were Andrew Johnson, Peter Dawson and Dennis O’Brien who took 17 keepers to 40 cm after returning about the same number of smaller fish. They also took several good size squid and several flathead.
Rod Ludlow of Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head had plenty of flathead to clean for clients over the weekend, but squid continue to be the main catch said Rod, with clients regularly taking bag limit catches of these tasty cephalopods.
Freshwater
John Clements of the Lake Purrumbete Holiday Park reports good fishing for brown and rainbow trout, which are responding to a variety of baits including pilchard fillets being fished just above the bottom; an approach Angus Robinson of Altona used to catch both species to 1.5 kg.
Redfin are also holding their own said John, and among those to catch a basket full of these to 800 grams or so last week was Gary Drew from Ballarat.
Jony Ai with his prize-winning 29.2 kg tuna from Portland (Picture: Bob McPherson).
Portland
Bob McPherson reports that the second round of the Portland Tuna Competition was won by Jony Ai who weighed in a fish of 29.2 kg; a result that made him the leader so far and $500 richer for his efforts.
As for Bob, he and his Mate George Gereige have been catching whiting, and – when conditions permit – fishing on the wide grounds for blue eye trevalla and the host of other high class culinary fare that comes to the party out there.
Celebration day
On Sunday, 15/04/18, you are invited to the Leopold Angling and Aquatic Club (711-729 Portarlington Road, Leopold) to celebrate the netting ban in Corio Bay, which now extends west from a line connecting Point Wilson to Curlewis at 144, 30, 000 E.
Running from 10.00 am until 5.00 pm, this event is to feature special guests and entertainers, and has the wholehearted support for, and indeed sponsorship from, Fisheries Victoria and our State Government, both of whom are jointly committed to have one million anglers, of all persuasions, actively fishing in our State by 2020.
Baron asks:
Geoff, what’s the advantage is in casting your line out when fishing from a boat? Why can’t you just let it straight down?
Baron, you certainly could let your line straight down from a boat without a problem; that’s provided you were using only one line.
However, when bottom fishing at anchor, and with more than one line out – which is the practice when snapper or whiting fishing in Port Phillip and Corio Bays – it’s advantageous to cast your lines away from the boat so they don’t become entangled, and essential when there is more than one angler fishing from the boat.